Course objectives: In Spring Semester 1999, students
majoring in biology or related life science fields can choose to
fulfill their Calculus requirement with Math 141B, Calculus with
Applications to Biology II, instead of Math 141 . While covering
the standard syllabus topics of derivatives, integrals, and
applications, Math 141B puts a greater emphasis on biological
applications and examples. This year the material in Stewart's text
Chapters 9-11 (polar coordinates, infinite sequences and series, and
3D analytic geometry) will be replaced by sections on parametric
equations and partial derivatives (parts of Chs. 9 and 12) and an
introduction to differential equations (Ch. 15). The ultimate purpose
of this course is to provide an appropriate mathematical background
for further work in the biological sciences.

Prerequisites: Math 140/Math 140B, or permission of the
instructor; enrollment is restricted to students majoring in biology or
related life science fields.

Grading: There will be two midterm exams, each worth 100
pts, and a final exam worth 150 pts. The exams will be roughly the
same as the 141 exam, although CALCULATORS WILL BE ALLOWED IN THE
EXAM. Weekly assignments will be taken from exercises in the textbook
(45 pts), and will be supplemented by applied problem sets
approximately every two weeks (35 pts). There will also be quizzes
based on the homework assignments (50 pts), and attendance will be
taken in class (20 points). Thus the course will be scored out of 500
pts.

Topics covered in this course:

Natural logarithms, exponentials, inverse functions (Ch. 6)

Integration techniques (Ch. 7)

Applications (Sections 8.1, 8.2, 8.6)

Parametric equations / polar coordinates (Sections 9.1, 9.3, 9.4)

Partial derivatives (Sections 12.1, 12.3, 12.5, 12.7)

Introduction to differential equations (Sections 15.1 - 15.5, 15.7)

This material will be supplemented in class by examples taken from relevant
biological topics.

COOP program

The
Eberley College of Science sponsors a Cooperative
Education Program for science and mathematics majors, in which
the participants spend a semester or the summer months working for a
company. If you are a Penn State student in good standing and have
completed at least 30 credits in any of the degree programs in the
Eberly College of Science, you are eligible to participate in the
Coop Program. In addition to earning a salary and academic
credits, students gain valuable work experience which may prove an
important advantage when entering the job market.